Cookhill WI

The speaker at the July meeting was Mr Schellenberg. Mr Schellenberg and his wife Margaret have established a remarkably and ambitious project in Tanzania to support people to enable them to take control of their lives by providing just a simple product – bread.

Mr Schellenberg took us back to the beginning of his involvement with this amazing project. A retired employee of Kenwood Ltd, and his wife a qualified dietican.They raised four children, his son David was based in Tanzania, with his wife researching the issues around malaria. Visiting his son after his retirement, Mr Schellenberg was impressed by the generosity, hospitality of the resident s of the town of Ifakara, where his son lived. Whilst the population was poorer in the material sense they there rich in caring for all within the community, rich or poor. There was an active group of nuns of the St Francis of Assisi in the community .As a whole the community was committed 100% to education in the belief that education was the route out of poverty so the community was committed to support children in their education from 3years onwards. But a child who is malnourished cannot hope to succeed academically. What a child needs is a basic diet. So the plan took root .Bread is one of the cheapest and most nourishing staple item. The plead to Mr Schellenberg was” help us set up a Bakery”. So Mr Schellenberg using his contacts (from Kenwood) managed to obtain all the industrial equipment to establish a bakery. Getting it to Dar es Salaam and onwards to Ifakara was another challenge – but with the influence of the Bishop of Ifakara the “duties” were paid and the equipment arrived ready to build the bakery. Many residents contributed their skills to build and install the equipment and soon a viable bakery was created. Nuns were trained by Mrs Schellenberg how to make the bread and many many loaves rolled out of the bakery. A slice of bread plus a cup of sweetened tea provided to those children who had walked miles to their school, gave them the energy to study. A loaf of bread retailed at 17p – the bakery provided employment, which gave income to a family to fund their children to continue to higher education. The Bakery is self funding and a wonderful demonstration of how given just a little bit of support communities can grow and prosper. Eugene and Margaret are continuing to support this flourishing community some 16 years later. They continue to fundraise –making sure that 100% of monies raised goes to the Ifakara Bakery Project.( see website www.ibpfreebread.com)

It was impossible not to be moved by Mr Schellenberg’s enthusiasm and persuasion that providing just a slice of bread can mean so much to an individual and a community. Mr Schellenberg was thanked and members were keen to donate to help this incredible and worthy project.

After refreshments, the Secretary reminded member there was not a meeting in the month of August, as members will be visiting Morton Hall Gardens

Cookhill WI meets the second Wednesday of each month 7.30pm at Cookhill Village Hall, providing a variety of speakers to suit all tastes together with opportunities to participate in classes and enjoy trips out to interesting venues. New members very welcome.